No Such Thing
by Chrysexanthe
Summary: IR is called to a rescue at a historic site. Written for the 2011 TIWF Halloween Challenge.


Author's note: This story was written for the 2011 TIWF Halloween Challenge.

Grateful thanks to my wonderful beta, quiller for all of her help.

Disclaimer: Don't own any of the recognizable Thunderbirds characters.

**No Such Thing**

Virgil glared at his alarm clock, trying to push the cobwebs out of his brain long enough to figure out why the alarm was going off at five when he had set if for six thirty. Finally it dawned on him that it wasn't the alarm at all, but the klaxon. He jumped out of bed, grabbed some clothes, dressing as he headed to the lounge. Gordon arrived shortly before him, John right on his heels. As they arrived, they saw Scott disappearing on his way to Thunderbird 1.

"What have we got?" Virgil asked.

"A bunch of school children are trapped in the visitor center in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania," Alan informed them from his portrait on the wall.

Virgil, looking perplexed, asked, "The local authorities can't handle the situation?"

"Unfortunately, no. They should be able to reach the people trapped in the upper levels, but the children are trapped in the sub-basement of the new museum. What is left of the building is quite unstable, so that's why they called us."

"Let me guess, poor construction?" Virgil asked.

"Close, Virg. Recent seismic activity in the area exceeded the design specifications for the new center," replied Alan.

"Probably because they didn't expect any," Gordon interjected.

"Well there are two seismic zones in Pennsylvania," said John, "no doubt the recent activity was more than they were used to. Why were the children in the sub-basement?"

"When they needed to expand the museum, due to a large number of acquisitions, they decided to go down instead of up so as not to intrude upon the landscape." Jeff explained. "The children and their chaperones are trapped in sublevel four, so you will need the Mole. Get going, Virgil. You too, Gordon."

John looked expectantly at his father as his brothers headed off.

"I'm sorry, John, but I need you at that meeting in Sydney this afternoon," Jeff said gently, knowing full well that John hated to be left behind, but he really needed his expertise today, as one of the projects to be discussed was a section of the new communications array for Thunderbird 5.

John nodded, looking disappointed, and then followed Gordon to see him off.

Gordon slowed to let John catch up.

"Don't look so disappointed Johnny," Gordon teased, "we all know you have a thing for that new technical assistant at the Sydney office."

John protested, but Gordon continued, "what's her name now, hmm, Jessie…Jennie…"

"Julie," John corrected, and seeing the triumphant grin on his brother's face, knew he had been duly caught, and blushed to the roots of his hair.

All joking ceased when they reached the kitchen where Kyrano handed them a hamper containing breakfast, mugs and a thermos of coffee. John followed as far as the elevator, gave his brother a playful punch in the arm, and then headed back to the main house as Gordon boarded Thunderbird 2.

"You know, Virg, there's a definite advantage to taking the more civilized route," Gordon remarked as he entered the cockpit.

"Oh, and what might that be?" Virgil grumbled from the pilot's chair as he completed his preflight systems check.

"This," stated Gordon, handing his brother a very large mug of coffee, then securing the hamper that contained their breakfast.

After taking a sip, he conceded, "You do have a point there, Gordon." After placing the mug in a holder designed for the purpose, Virgil readied Thunderbird 2 for take-off.

Once they were in the air, Gordon commented, "Too bad Alan is stuck up on 5 this month. Gettysburg is more his thing than mine."

"This is a rescue, Gordon, not a sightseeing trip."

"True enough. But considering he's a bit of a Civil War buff, I'm sure he wishes he could be on this mission with us."

"Probably," agreed Virgil as they reached cruising altitude and leveled off.

Gordon opened the hamper and pulled out two sandwiches, handing one to his brother. As they ate their breakfast en route, both men quietly blessed Kyrano for his ability to put together a meal to go at the drop of a hat.

"Thunderbird 2 from Thunderbird 5"

"Go ahead, Alan," Virgil responded. When Alan didn't reply immediately, he looked at the screen and saw that he had a wistful expression on his face. Virgil, one eyebrow raised, inquired whether there was a problem. Alan immediately snapped out of it and apologized.

"Sorry guys. Just wish I could be on this mission with you, that's all. Transmitting your landing coordinates now." Virgil glanced back at Gordon, who had an 'I told you so' look on his face. He nodded in acknowledgment, just managing to keep a straight face, then turned back to review the coordinates.

"That's rather far from the danger zone," Virgil said, frowning.

"The area around the visitor center is rather built up, well, except for the cemetery, but you can't exactly land there now, can you?" Alan joked. "The guys from the park service aren't exactly happy about this, but the only place you can land is on one of the battlefields. There are monuments and memorials all over the place, so be careful."

Virgil didn't even dignify the comment with a reply. After a brief pause, he said, "I know you are listening in, Scott, ETA forty three minutes."

"FAB," Scott replied.

As Thunderbird 2 started to descend over Pennsylvania, both Virgil and Gordon eyed the vibrant colors of the landscape appreciatively. It had been a great while since they had seen the fall foliage in the northeast US.

"I love the island, but I really do miss the fall colors," Virgil commented as he made an adjustment to their trajectory.

"I know what you mean," Gordon agreed, "apple picking, cider, pumpkin pie, Halloween…"

Virgil snorted, "You just miss the candy."

"Too true," he replied with a grin.

Virgil fired Thunderbird 2's maneuvering thrusters as he brought her in to land at the assigned coordinates, carefully keeping clear of the many monuments that made landing such a large vehicle a bit of a tight squeeze.

After they had landed, Virgil noticed that the colors that had seemed so vivid from the air now appeared to be muted, almost appearing dull and drab. "That's odd," he thought to himself, trying to shake off the sense of unease he'd felt as soon as they had landed. He heard a faint buzzing sound, and shook his head as if trying to clear it as he released the clamps on the pod and raised Thunderbird 2 up so they could access the equipment that was inside.

Stopping to check that the pod door had indeed closed behind them after they had driven the Mole out, he noticed that Gordon, who was seated next to him, seemed a bit off.

"Something wrong, Gordon?"

"Yes…no…"

"Well, which is it?

"I don't know, really. It's this place. It just seems not quite right. I really can't explain it, but it's as if there some sort of pall over this place," Gordon said hesitantly. "Alan says this town is really haunted."

Virgil gave a snort, "There's no such thing as ghosts."

"Yeah, well I don't believe in them either, but Alan says that Gettysburg is one of the most haunted places in the country. People have even claimed to see Civil War soldiers on the battlefields."

"Well, that is easily explained," Virgil said, grinning at his brother, "groups of Civil War re-enactors are here all the time."

"I don't know, Virg, there were some pretty hair raising stories – never believed them, but now that I am here, I'm not so sure; there is definitely something odd about this place," Gordon said quietly as the vehicle lumbered towards the danger zone.

"Huh," Virgil glanced at the colors of the trees which should be so vibrant and thinking about his own sense of unease, "I know just what you mean."

When they arrived at the danger zone, it was quite a mess. About two thirds of the building was completely collapsed, while what was still standing looked precarious at best. It looked as though some make-shift shoring up had been done, but it didn't look as though it would hold for long.

"The children are on sub-level four, in this section," Scott informed them, showing them a copy of the building plans. "All the survivors on levels one and two have been rescued. If anyone had been on level three, they didn't survive the collapse, as all scans show life signs only in the area where the children are. Honestly, no one is quite sure how they've survived, because that section should have collapsed as well."

Virgil and Gordon returned to the Mole, aligned it and headed down to rescue the trapped children.

Once they had reached the level where the children were, for safety reasons, Virgil maneuvered the Mole so that it would enter the storage area next to where the children were instead of the room they were in. After it was powered down, Gordon opened the hatch to see that they were parked so that the door to the room where the children were was right next to them. He just couldn't help himself, and quipped, "International Rescue, we give door to door service!"

Virgil, though secretly pleased at his brother's acknowledgment of his skill, just grinned at him, and collected the first aid kits as they exited the vehicle.

Entering the museum area, the children were as thrilled to see them as their chaperones were relieved. A quick triage showed that most of the injuries were minor and only two needed to be dealt with before the children could be moved, a girl with a broken arm and a boy with a dislocated shoulder. Gordon grabbed one first aid kit and set to work splinting the girl's arm since she was nearby, and Virgil took another kit and set out across the room to tend to the boy with the dislocated shoulder.

As he crossed the room, he thought that it was a bit odd that even though there was plenty of space, the children and chaperones were huddled along the periphery of the room. Stepping carefully across some broken glass from a display case that a quick glance told him contained a uniform and some other personal effects of some long dead soldier, Virgil suddenly felt as if the room was closing in on him, and couldn't breathe. Even though the room was quite warm, his skin felt like ice and he had to fight the intense urge to get out of there as fast as humanly possible. It took him a moment to fight the intense urge to flee and get it under control, though his heart was racing. He moved past the display and reached the injured boy, giving him what he hoped was a reassuring smile as he introduced himself.

The boy, who told him that his name was Michael, gave him a shrewd look.

"You felt it, didn't you, Mister?" the boy asked him.

"Felt what?"

"The ghost," he responded.

"There is no such thing as ghosts, Michael," Virgil told him firmly.

"Then what was that over there? I wasn't the only one that felt it, and you did too. I saw the look on your face when you crossed the room," he persisted.

"I…,"Virgil hesitated, "I honestly don't know, Michael. I honestly don't know."

Once Michael's arm had been immobilized, they carefully walked around the room to the Mole. As they were walking, Virgil noticed that the pocket where they were was a perfect circle around the display case where he had felt…whatever he had felt. In his mind, he wasn't even going to consider the possibility that it could be a ghost.

Virgil got the two injured children settled while Gordon organized the remaining children and their chaperones into two groups for transport since there were too many for one trip. Coming out of the Mole to gather more children for this trip, Virgil noticed that Gordon walked all around the room, but completely avoided the center area as if there were some sort of wall around it. He was about to say something to him, when an elderly chaperone tapped him on the arm.

"He knows it's there, son," she said gently, "He's had a close call with death, hasn't he?"

Startled, Virgil nodded, "How did you know?"

She shrugged, "Just a guess, but from the way he is moving, it seems obvious that he can sense something is there and he is instinctively avoiding it."

As Virgil was assisting another chaperone into the vehicle, the entire room lurched and debris began raining down everywhere as the room shook. Virgil and Gordon exchanged a quick look, silently communicating with each other. Virgil fielded a call from Scott, confirming their suspicions of more local seismic activity, as well as the precarious situation of the remaining parts of the building, while Gordon got the group's attention,

"Listen up, everyone! It looks as though things are getting a bit shaky up top, so we are going to have to ask you all to play sardines so we can do this all in one trip."

Both men were moved by the looks of complete trust on the faces of the children. The chaperones were a bit jittery and less trusting, but Virgil's calm demeanor and Gordon's joking soon put them at ease, and they completed the evacuation in an orderly fashion

The ceiling of the room caved in just as Gordon secured the Mole's hatch. Calming everyone down as best he could, Gordon carefully waded through the packed compartment to join Virgil at the controls.

"What was that?" one of the children asked.

"Not to worry," Gordon replied with a smile, "we'll be out of here in just a moment."

Sitting down at the controls, he looked at Virgil and asked quietly, "Was that…?"

"Yep, the rest of it just came down."

Gordon turned to their passengers and asked, "OK gang, ready to blow this joint?"

To an excited chorus of "Yes!", Virgil started the engines and the Mole headed back up to the surface.

Virgil brought the vehicle to a stop on the side of the parking field where the emergency medical personnel were waiting. Gordon joked with the children as he opened the hatch, and all passengers were safely delivered into the care of the local EMS.

After a short conference with Scott, they headed back to Thunderbird 2. As they headed back to the landing site, Virgil felt the sense of unease that he had felt earlier returning full force, and from the way Gordon was acting, he suspected that Gordon felt it as well.

Approaching the landing site, Virgil and Gordon noticed two groups of men standing near Thunderbird 2 as if on guard duty. One group was wearing Union Blue, the other Confederate Gray. Upon their arrival, both groups stopped patrolling the area and saluted them. Gordon returned the salute; Virgil acknowledged it with a smile and stated "Just doing our job, but thanks."

The men smiled and nodded as they went back to their respective groups and started putting their gear in order while Virgil and Gordon went about their tasks of securing the equipment. The group in Union Blue collected their gear and headed across the field, up to the ridgeline where there was a fence and a low wall, taking their position behind the wall along side the cannons that were positioned there. The group in Confederate Gray retreated to where there was a large monument and more cannons just in front of the line of trees. Gordon looked at the positions of the two groups and commented to Virgil that during the war, the guys trying to cross the field would have been decimated trying to take the high ground.

Virgil checked the location of the two groups before heading up to the cockpit to make sure that they were far enough away for take-off. Seeing that they were still a bit too close, he called out to them to let them know that they would need to move farther away. He got a nod and a wave as acknowledgement, so he headed up to the cockpit to start the pre-flight checks.

Once the pre-flight was done & they were ready to take off, Gordon looked out and saw that the men were still too close.

"Thought you told them to back off, Virg."

"They're still there?"

"Yup," replied Gordon.

Using the P.A. system, Virgil again instructed the two groups of men to back away from the aircraft as they were too close and that they could be injured by the engines. His only reply was a wave from what looked like the commanders of each group. Exasperated, he decided to call for assistance.

"Mobile Control from Thunderbird 2"

"Mobile Control here, go ahead Thunderbird 2"

"Scott, we have a group of Civil War re-enactors here. I told them to back off, but they haven't yet. Could you have someone sent down to move them away?"

"FAB."

A few moments later, "Thunderbird 2 from Mobile Control"

"Go ahead, Mobile Control"

"Virg, the authorities say that there are no groups of re-enactors out there today. Everyone had either been sent home or put to work on the rescue efforts."

"Well, these guys are here and..."

"Virgil, look!" Gordon interrupted, pointing out the window towards where the men were. Virgil looked out in time to see the two groups of men, again saluting them as they faded from sight. Gordon and Virgil just stared in shock.

"Come in, Thunderbird 2"

They both looked at each other wide-eyed.

"Thunderbird 2, come in!"

"Go ahead, Mobile Control." Virgil was barely able to get out the words as his mouth had gone dry.

"Is everything alright there?"

"Fine, Scott."

"Are the men still in the way? I can send some police down to move them out."

"That won't be necessary, Scott. They've gone."

"You are clear to take off then, Thunderbird 2"

"FAB" Virgil replied, then to Gordon, "Strap in."

"Uh Virg"

"Not a word, Gordon. Not a word."


End file.
